Course Syllabus

IR 530
Food and Agriculture Systems Governance
Fall 2024
Classroom TBA / Wednesday / 09:40-12:30

INSTRUCTOR
Name Faik Gür
E-mail [email protected]
Phone Number 02165649375
Office Number AB2 259
Office Hours By appointment only

COURSE TYPE COURSE DELIVERY AND EXAM ADMINISTRATION

Face-to-Face  This course can only be taken in-person, on campus.
 This course is not synchronously video streamed nor is it recorded.
 In-person class attendance may be required throughout the
semester.
 Final and midterm exams are administered in-person, on campus
only.

COURSE ORGANIZATION
Interaction Discussion
Methods Course WhatsApp Group
E-mail
Technology Used LMS
by the Instructor WhatsApp
E-mail

Technology A laptop or a smartphone

Requirements for
Students

COURSE MATERIALS
Required Books A reading pack will be shared with the students.
Recommended -
Books
Other Materials Some recommended videos available on LMS
Accessing Course -
Materials

WEEKLY SUBJECTS (TENTATIVE)

Course Content

This course covers the issues of food security and globalization of agricultural systems.
Throughout the course, different aspects of agricultural activities; including food
production, distribution, and consumption; problems of access to food in urban and rural
areas; production relations in agriculture, the relationship between small farmers and large
corporate firms and organizations; how the market works, and its local, national, and
international implications; and the development strategies of major organizations, e.g., the
World Bank, IMF, and FAO, regarding agriculture and food problems are examined.

Week 1 (September 25)

 Introduction to the course content and mechanics

Reference books and websites:

Critical perspectives in Food Studies by M. Koç, J. Summer, A. Winson
Oxford University Press (Available in the library
H. Bernstein et al. The food Question: Profits versus People (available in the library)
www.foodsystemacademy

Week 2 (October 2)

The Global Food System

Main readings:

Henry Bernstein. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change, Chapter 1, 2, 3

Karl, Marx, Capital Volume 1, Chapter One: Commodities. (Please use the Penguen
Version).

Recomended:

Tansey, Geoff. 2014. The Food System: An Overview.

Available online at: http://www.foodsystemsacademy.org.uk/videos/geoff-tansey.html
Roberts, Wayne. 2013. Introduction and Introducing the food system. In The No-
Nonsense Guide to World Food. Toronto: Between the Lines. Pp: 8-31.

Week 3 (October 9)

Food System Crisis and Theory

Main Readings:

Friedmann, H. and P. McMichael.1989. “Agriculture and the State system: the rise and
Decline of National Agricultures, 1870 to the Present.” Sociologica Ruralis. Pp:93-118

Henry Bernstein. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change, Chapter 2 and 3,

Recomended: Friedmann, Harriet. 2014. Food Regimes and their transformation.

Available online at: http://www.foodsystemsacademy.org.uk/audio/harriet-
freidmann.html

Week 4 (October 16)

Colonizing Food Systems

Main readings: Mintz, Sidney. 2011. Plantations and the Rise of a World Food
Economy: Some Preliminary Ideas. Review (Fernand Braudel Center), Rethinking the
Plantation: Histories, Anthropologies, and Archaeologies. 34(1/2): 3-14. (Available on
LMS)

Raschke, V., and Cheema, B. 2006. Colonisation, the new world order, and the
eradication of traditional food habits in East Africa: historical perspective on the nutrition
Transition. Public Health Nutrition. 11 (7): 662-674. (Available on LMS)
Henry Bernstein. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change, Chapter 4, 5

Please pick one chapter (4, 5, 6, 7,8,9) from Class Dynamics and prepare a 30-minute
presentation to be presented next week (%15)

Week 5 (October 23)

Agricultural Industrialization and Corporatization

Weis, Tony. 2010. The Accelerating Biophysical Contradictions of Industrial Capitalist

Agriculture, Journal of Agrarian Change, 10(3): 315-341.

Presentations:

Henry Bernstein. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change, Chapter 6, 7,8,9

Week 6 (October 30)

Global Governance and the Cost of Cheap Food

Main readings:

Weis, Tony. 2007. Chapter 4: Entrenching an uneven playing field: the multilateral
regulation of agriculture. In The Global Food Economy: The Battle for the Future of
Farming. London, New York: Zed Books. pp 128-160. (Available on LMS)

Tansey, G., and Rajotte, T. 2008. Food, farming and global rules. The Future Control of
Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property,
biodiversity and food security. London: EarthScan. pp 3-26.

Recommended:

Roberts, Wayne. 2013. The High Cost of Cheap Food. In The No-Nonsense Guide to
World Food. Toronto: Between the Lines. pp 54-82.

Week 7 (November 6)

Food Workers

Preibisch, Kerry L. and Evelyn Encalada Grez. 2010. The Other Side of el Otro Lado:
Mexican Migrant Women and Labor Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture. Signs. (35)2:
289-316. (Available on LMS)

Barndt, Deborah. 2001. On the move for food: Three women behind the tomato’s journey.
Women’s Studies Quarterly. 29(1/2), 131-143. (Available on LMS)

Recommended:

Sook Lee, Min. 2003. El Contrato. National Film Board. Available online:
https://www.nfb.ca/film/el_contrato

Encalada Grez, Evelyn. 2006. Justice for Migrant Farm Workers: Reflections on the
Importance of Community Organising. Relay Magazine. July/August: 23-25.
 Week 8 (November 13)

Global Food Waste Regimes

Main readings:

Gille, Z. 2012. From risk to waste: Global food waste regimes. The Sociological Review,
60, 27- 46. (Available on LMS)

Cloke, J. 2013. Empires of Waste and the Food Security Meme. Geography Compass,
7(9), 622- 636. (Available on LMS)

Recommended: British Institute of Mechanical Engineers. 2014. Global Food Waste:

Waste Not Want Not. Report. Available online at:
http://www.imeche.org/docs/defaultsource/reports/Global_Food_Report.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Week 9 (November 20)

International Development and Food Aid

Carney, Judith. 2008. The Bitter Harvest of Gambian Rice Policies. Globalizations. 5(2):
129- 142. (Available on LMS)

Tarasuk, Valerie, Naomi Dachner and Rachel Loopstra. 2014. Food banks, welfare, and
food insecurity in Canada. British Food Journal. 116(9): 1405-1417.

Davis, B., and Tarasuk, V. 1994. Hunger in Canada. Agriculture and Human Values 11
(4) 50-57. (Available on LMS)

Recommended:

Human Rights Watch. 2014. Sugar Plantations in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley. Available
online at:

http://www.hrw.org/features/omo-sugar-plantations (please scroll through each of the

slides and click on the links provided)

Oxfam. Food aid or hidden dumping? Separating wheat from chaff. pp. 2-29. Available
online at: http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp71_food_aid.pdf

Week 10 (November 27)

Food security and food sovereignty

Agarwal, Bina. 2014. Food Security, Food Sovereignty and Democratic Choice:
Addressing Potential Contradictions. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 41(6): 773-784.
(Available on LMS)

Roberts, W. 2013. A tale of two worlds: understanding food sovereignty. In The No-
Nonsense Guide to World Food. Toronto: Between the Lines. pp 83-115.

Note: Start thinking about a term project

 Week 11 (December 4)

Sustainable Agriculture

Guest Speaker: Murat Bayramoğlu, Community Development Program Manager,

Ozyegin University

Tatvan and Kilis Agricultural Development Projects

Feenstra, G. 2002. Creating space for sustainable food systems: lessons from the field.
Agriculture and Human Values 19(2), 99–106. (Available on LMS)

Levkoe, C. 2011. Towards a transformative food politics. Local Environment 16(7): 687-
705. (Available on LMS)

Recommended:

Roberts, W. 2013. Bread and Roses: Overcoming Hunger. The No-Nonsense Guide to
World Food. Toronto: Between the Lines. Pp. 116-140.

Roberts, W. 2013. Seeds of hope: the rise of the food movement. The No-Nonsense Guide
to World Food. Toronto: Between the Lines. pp 141-175.

Guthman, Julie. 2008. Bringing Good Food to Others: Investigating the Subjects of
Alternative Food Practice. Cultural Geographies. 15 (4): 425-441. (available on LMS)

Ready to share the details of your project and prepare a draft outline

Week 12 (December 11)

Turkey
Keyder and Yenal

Human Mobility, Health Strategies, and the Meanings of Food

Note that this topic is subject to change. We will discuss this in class. We may
well replace this with some case studies from Turkey.!!!

Carney, M. A. (2015). Eating and Feeding at the Margins of the State: Barriers to Health
Care for Undocumented Migrant Women and the “Clinical” Aspects of Food Assistance:
Barriers to Migrant Health and Food Assistance. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 29(2),
196–215. (available on LMS)

Jennings, H., Thompson, J. L., Merrell, J., Bogin, B., & Heinrich, M. (2014). Food, home
and health: the meanings of food amongst Bengali Women in London. Journal of
Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 10(1), 44. (available on LMS)

Recommended:

Guthman, J., and Dupuis, E. 2006. Embodying neoliberalism: economy, culture, and the
politics of fat. Environment and Planning D 24: 427–448. (available on LMS)
LeBesco, Kathleen. 2011. Neoliberalism, public health, and the moral perils of fatness.
Critical Public Health. 21(2): 153-164. (available on LMS)
 Week 13 (December 18)
Be ready to share and discuss your draft outline of your term project.
(%5 of the final grade)

Week 14 (December 25)

Be ready to present your draft in class.
(%20 of the final grade)

Paper due January 15, 2023

ASSESSMENT METHODS, WEIGHTS AND RULES

Type Weight Implementation Rule Makeup Rule
Presentations 40% In class, total of three presentations. Only valid excuses with an
Each 30 minutes official report are accepted to
qualify for a presentation
makeup.
At most one makeup will be
given in the course due to
health reports.).
Term Paper 60% Students are expected to write a Only valid excuses with an
Submission scholarly term paper about a project official report are accepted to
proposed on December 4, 2024 qualify for a term paper makeup.
At most one makeup will be
given in the course due to
health reports.).
Total 100%

ASSESSMENT(S) BEFORE THE WITHDRAWAL DEADLINE

Type of Assessment(s) Weight(s) Date by When the Score of the
Assessment is to be Announced
Presentation %15 November 6, 2024

DETERMINING LETTER GRADE

90 & higher: A
85-89: A-
80-84: B+
75-79: B
70-74: B-
66-69: C+
62-65: C Passing grade: C
58-61: C-
54-57: D+
50-53: D
Lower than 50: F

EXPECTED STUDENT SEMESTER WORKLOAD

Activities Carried Out in The Presence of An Instructor 42
Lecture (Including Discussion Sessions) 32
Recitation/Practice 10
Activities Carried Out by The Learner Him/Herself 108
Working on Assignments 50
Pre-class Learning of Course Material 58
Other
Overall Total Hours in Semester 150
 OTHER RULES AND INFORMATION
Health and Safety Announced safety procedures must be strictly followed during any laboratory and
similar work. Please refer to the safety guidelines posted in the laboratories. In
case of emergencies, call 9911 (216 564 9911).
Accessibility Reasonable accommodations will be provided for students with verifiable
disabilities. Please inform your instructor if you need any assistance.
Academic and Students can get help from the Writing Center, Solution Center and IT in case
Technical Support they need academic and/or technical support with their classes.
Objections to Students who object to their exam results and cannot resolve their objections
Examination with the instructor of the course, may file a written petition for a review of their
Results exam papers at their Dean’s/Director’s Office within five business days from the
announcement their exam results.
Academic Integrity Students are assumed to abide by scholastic honesty and uphold the Honor
and Honor Code Code. Scholastic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to cheating, attempting to
cheat, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of
dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations,
submitting the work of another person, or tampering with the academic work of
other students. Any form of scholastic dishonesty is a serious academic violation
and will result in a disciplinary action and also may result in student getting a 0
grade in the related assessment.
Unauthorized Recording/sharing of synchronous/asynchronous lectures or copying of lecture
Recording/Sharing recordings are prohibited without the permission of the instructor. Actions such
of Lectures as unauthorized recording, giving the recording to someone else, taking it, using
it or sharing it in physical or virtual media are prohibited and/or are offenses
according to the relevant legislation. In such cases, legal procedures will be
initiated in addition to starting disciplinary actions against those involved.
Flexibility Circumstances may arise during the course that prevents the instructor from
fulfilling each and every component of this syllabus; therefore, the syllabus is
subject to change. Students will be notified prior to any changes.